Indians Prospect Insider

After taking a line drive off his elbow in a start last night for Columbus, Carlos Carrasco appears to have established a rather morbid method for evading the suspensions Major League Baseball tries to impose upon him. At press time, the extent of Carrasco’s latest injury remained unknown, but if initial reports are any indication, another prolonged stint on the disabled list could be in the cards. If so, it’s just the latest chapter it what has become an increasingly bizarre pro career for the 26 year-old right-hander from Venezuela. Join Andrew Clayman as he gives his off-day Second Thoughts about Carrasco.

It's always good to see your first round picks leading the way down on the farm. Tyler Naquin and Francisco Lindor played pivotal roles in leading the Carolina Mudcats Thursday, flashing the potential that makes them both top prospects in the organization. You never want to see players hurt, however, and Cleveland saw two of their better pitchers injured in Columbus. To help make sense of all that went on, join Andrew Zajac, as he goes Around The Farm...

On a night with a somber tune, the Clippers secured their second win of the series in Scranton, beating the RailRiders 4-1.﻿ The big news from the night ended up being bad news for not only the Clippers, but the Indians organization as a whole.﻿ In the bottom of the fifth Carlos Carrasco took a line drive up the middle off of his arm and left the game immediately. Carrasco was, apparently, in a great deal of pain as he made his way to the hospital. As the injury is yet to be confirmed, the fear is that Carrasco could be out for quite a while with a somewhat serious arm issue.

Despite early home runs by both teams on Thursday night, the Carolina Mudcats took the four-game series over the Potomac Nationals with a 4-1 win. In the first inning, Nationals center fielder Michael Taylor worked the count to full before he hit a home run over the left-center field wall and pushed the score to 1-0. Mudcats centerfielder Tyler Naquin countered the early Nationals home run with a homer over the scoreboard and evened up the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the first.

The Clinton LumberKings axed the Lake County Captains in the first of a three-game series as the Captains fell 3-2 on Thursday evening. Righty Mitch Brown (1-1, 11.17) received the start for the Captains to counter Clinton right-hander Victor Sanchez (0-0, 0.00), who just joined the LumberKings on Tuesday.

Triple-A Columbus right-handed pitcher Carlos Carrasco was struck on his right elbow by a line drive off the bat of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre second baseman Corban Joseph and was removed from the game in the fifth inning of action on Thursday night. He has been taken to an area hospital for further evaluation, likely to get x-rays on his arm/elbow.

The Columbus Clippers have finished their third week of the season going 3-4 and bringing their overall record to 10-10 on the year. Through 20 games the Clippers are in third place in their division and 3.5 games behind the division-leading Indians of Indianapolis. The IBI's Cameron Weimer takes us "sailing" to get us caught up on the week that was in the weekly Clippers notebook...

In this week’s second edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the hot start that Akron first baseman Chun Chen is off to, what has changed with his approach, and when he may get to Columbus (or Cleveland). He also has a ton of comments from the front office regarding the Columbus roster on things such as the presence of so many six-year free agents as well as the plans for Carlos Carrasco and others. Finally, he touches on the return of Austin Adams and Trey Haley, the release of Delvi Cid and who may be replacing him, the blistering bat of Jerrud Sabourin, the potential of Dylan Baker and much more.

With the Indians getting the day off today - a much needed one at that - the IBI's Jake Dungan takes the time to add his two cents on a few of the latest hot topics of discussion amongst Tribe fans. He talks about the good start of the season from Mark Reynolds, the mounting injuries for the Tribe, and the Marson-Gomes dynamic.

Coming off three straight wins to climb back to 8-10, the Indians needed to solve Jorge Quintana to leave Chicago with a rain-shortened series sweep. Two weeks ago, Quintana pitched seven innings of one-hit baseball against the Indians, and he was facing a lineup without Michael Bourn, Carlos Santana, and Asdrubal Cabrera during this game. From the start, this looked like a tough game to win. Join Michael Goodman as he gives his Second Thoughts on Wednesday's loss.

On a cold morning in Scranton, Pennsylvania, some late inning heroics from the Clippers propelled Columbus to their tenth win of the year, defeating Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 5-4. In his third start of the year for the Clippers, phenom Trevor Bauer continued his dominance of the International League.

Wednesday night was a cold and wet one in Northeast Ohio, as anyone who braved the weather to catch a ballgame can attest. Despite this, a few players found a way to overcome the weather, including Akron designated hitter Chun Chen, Columbus starting pitcher Trevor Bauer, and others. Jim Piascik was one of those who froze last night (as he watched the Aeros hold on to a 5-4 victory) and he will recap the night in the minor leagues as he takes you Around The Farm.

Potomac Nationals first baseman Kevin Keyes hit a two-run homer that shattered a light bulb in left field to give Potomac the 2-0 win over the Carolina Mudcats on Wednesday night at Five County Stadium. The Nationals held the Mudcats scoreless for the first time this season. With the offense failing to score, Shawn Morimando suffered the loss for Carolina despite an impressive outing.

The Akron Aeros completed a three-game series against the Trenton Thunder with a 5-4 win and some contributions at the plate from Chun Chen. Right-hander Toru Murata (1-2, 2.60) took the bump to counter Trenton righty Caleb Cotham (1-1, 4.85). The Thunder struck first in the form of a solo home run off the bat of catcher Kyle Higashioka in the second inning.

The main theme of the series has been a big inning putting the game away and the West Michigan Whitecaps (8-9) did just that. The Whitecaps scored seven runs in the sixth inning to defeat the Lake County Captains (6-13) by a final score of 10-1 Wednesday afternoon.

Just as this offensive roller coaster looked to be on its way up, things took another dive for the Indians on Wednesday, as they fell to their division rival Chicago White Sox, 3-2. For the second time in less than two weeks, Tribe bats were silenced by another stellar pitching performance by Chicago left-hander Jose Quintana. The White Sox starter limited the team to just two runs on four hits through five innings, ending Cleveland’s three game winning streak. Join Jim Berdysz as he recaps Wednesday's game, after the jump...

Most seniors in high school think about summer, college and upcoming graduation parties as they’re getting fitted for their tux for senior prom. Lake County Captains’ first baseman Nelson Rodriguez learned he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians during his tux fitting at Men’s Warehouse. Since being drafted and signing, he has been one of the most encouraging stories with the strides he has made to date.

The Indians have issued tryouts to the staff of Indians Baseball Insider, looking for the next starter to fill in a spot in the Tribe rotation. Yeah, it's nearly that bad, as Corey Kluber enters the fray for the Indians as the eighth starter to pitch for the Tribe in 2013. It's April 24th. Is there any hope at the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario? Can the Indians overcome this major weakness to do any damage?

Coach's Corner returns to the IBI today for the 2013 season, and is a piece where Tony sits down with a coach in the Indians minor league system and really breaks down and discusses several players on the roster. He recently had a chance to sit down with High-A Carolina manager Dave Wallace and they talked in detail about the transition that Tony Wolters is making to catcher, his timeline, what he has impressed with so far, and what his early challenges are with the change. They also talked about the impressive work ethic of Francisco Lindor, the rapid growth of Cody Anderson, the showing to date of Tyler Naquin, the potential of Shawn Morimando, the pitching role changes for Michael Goodnight and Jordan Cooper, and more.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!